Rogue Wave

Chapter 43

The fast-flowing water whisked Kai toward the doorway of the condo facing the ocean. He flailed his arms, hoping to find something solid to grasp. The wildly roving spot from the dive light tied to his arm showed the entry rush by. As he tumbled through the hallway, his hand brushed against the doorway of the opposite apartment. He whipped his body around and slapped his fingers onto the jamb's edge.

His progress stopped, but Kai was still without an air supply. He had less than two minutes before his lungs would require air.

He thought about trying to swim back toward the air tanks, but the current had to be above 20 knots. It was all he could do just to hold on. Pieces of debris pelted his head, but he concentrated only on the fading grip he had on the door jamb.

Kai had two very simple choices, neither of which was very appealing: he could either hold on until his breath ran out in hopes that the water flowing out would lower itself to his level, or he could let go and try to swim for the surface, getting towed out to sea in the process. Kai knew that very few people who were dragged out by a tsunami lived to tell the tale. In fact, most of them were never even found.

On the other hand, if he did hold on and ran out of air, he would drown and be dragged out to sea anyway. Kai decided to take his chances at a few more minutes of life, so he prepared to let go and swim for it.

Just before he released his grip, he noticed that he could make out vague forms where the dive light wasn't pointing. The murky water was getting brighter; Kai must have been nearer to the surface than he thought. Sunlight streamed from the direction of the condo windows, meaning fresh air couldn't be more than ten or twenty feet above him. With that realization, he decided to stick it out for another minute, or until he panicked, whichever came first.

The room got brighter and brighter until he could actually see some of the shapes around him without the light: the edge of the door, the pattern of the wood parquet on the floor, the pieces of flowered wallpaper that hadn't been ripped away. Just a few more seconds. His lungs were on fire, but he willed himself to make it.

Kai took a chance and inched himself up the edge of the door, hoping that he would be exposed to the air that much quicker. In short order, he reached the ceiling just as a new sound filled his ears: the unmistakable roar of water falling. At the same time, a blessed air pocket opened above his head. Kai thrust his face upwards, careful to maintain his grip, and gulped in a huge breath.

The water level dropped faster than an unplugged bathtub as it shot past him into Malama Bay. Kai maneuvered back down the door jamb, and as the water line reached about four feet above the floor, the flow abruptly shifted.

The walls on the ocean side of the condo were still intact, so when the water level reached the bottom of the windows, it had no way to continue draining on that side. But the wall on the other side of the building had been obliterated by the explosion, making an easy escape route for the remaining water.

The water stopped for just a few moments, and Kai sat on his knees, his head just above the surface. Then the flow changed direction and charged back through the doorway away from the ocean. Because he wasn't expecting the change, Kai wasn't prepared. Although the rushing water was only a yard high, the force was enough to knock him down. It wrenched him off his knees, again sending him flailing. Kai was now in danger of being washed out the other side of the building like a log going down a flume.

Kai slammed into the other condo doorway, swung around and saw the others in his group for a split second. Teresa tried to reach him, but she wasn't quick enough. His head went under again, and he thought for sure he was going right through the kitchen, after which there was nothing solid to grab on to, but a hand latched on to his arm and stopped him with a jolt.

Kai put his foot against the kitchen wall to brace himself and splashed up to get another breath. When he did, he saw Brad's face, weary and terrified, but determined.

"You're not going anywhere," Brad rasped through clenched teeth.

In another few seconds, the water drained enough so that Kai wasn't in danger of going with it. The air was rank with the smell of dirty sea water, but it couldn't have been more refreshing. Kai stood to check whether he was in one piece. He had cuts and bruises all over, but all of the important parts worked.

"Thanks, Brad. For once I'm glad you spend all that time at the gym."

Brad looked like he was still in shock. Being pinned down, dependent on the scuba gear must have rattled him, but there had been no other choice.

"You OK?" Kai said.

Brad just nodded and started untying himself. Mia was still on the floor beside him. She was also now free of the girder. The improvised plan had worked. The raft bulged out at the other end of the girder, no longer able to hold the weight. The girder had settled back down to its original position.

"Good idea with the raft," Tom said.

"It wasn't my idea," Kai said. "Lani deserves the credit."

Lani lay on the floor, and only now did he realize she hadn't moved since the water had gone.

"Lani, honey? Are you OK?"

Kai bent down and turned her over. The regulator was no longer in her mouth, and he saw why. The hose had been neatly severed by some floating object.

The suddenness of the cut gave Lani no warning that she would be inhaling water. In her struggle for air, she must have spit out the regulator. Her face was blue, and she wasn't breathing. Kai's daughter, his only child, was dying.

The water roiled and churned as it was sucked down the elevator shaft. After a moment of confusion and paralysis, Rachel found her bearings and swam for the surface, crying out as she broke into the air. She looked up to see Paige and Sheila peering over the side of the elevator roof. They were already 20 feet above her and receding away from her at an alarming rate. As she got farther removed from the light coming in through the open door on the 15th floor, the gloom got heavier.

"Rachel! Are you all right?" Paige yelled down.

"I'm OK," Rachel replied. "Where's Jerry? Jerry!" She spun around but couldn't find him.

"We can only see you. Maybe he's under us."

"I can't see him!"

Rachel paddled around the shaft, feeling for him under the water. Her leg brushed something in the middle of the shaft, and then it was gone.

"I think I touched him!" Rachel shouted.

More voices joined Paige's above, all of them calling, "Jerry! Jerry!"

Rachel dove under the water, but the light was nonexistent. She felt around in the darkness, and her hand snagged on a piece of cloth. It was Jerry. Rachel kicked and pulled him to the surface.

Jerry was groggy, but conscious. He moaned and floundered, but he was able to keep his head above water.

"I found him!" Rachel yelled.

"Thank God!" someone cried back in relief.

"It's hard to see, but I think he's got a gash on his head. He must have hit it on something when he went over." She shook him. "Jerry! Can you hear me?"

His eyes rolled back, like he was about to lose it. Rachel slapped him.

"Jerry! Stay with me!"

That got his attention, but he couldn't manage more than a half-hearted dog paddle. They were still in the middle of the shaft, at least ten feet from any side.

"Where's that light coming from?" yelled Paige, who was now more than thirty feet above Rachel.

Rachel looked down to see what Paige was talking about. A ghostly light began to filter up from beneath them. It seemed to be concentrated on one side of the shaft. Then Rachel realized with a start what it was.

"Oh my God! One of the elevator doors must have come open. Come on, Jerry! We need to grab on to something or we'll be sucked right out of the hotel."

Even though the elevator Jerry had been in was an express, the other two next to it were not, so that part of the shaft had doors at every floor below.

Rachel pulled Jerry's shirt. He gracelessly thrashed after her. The tug toward the open door strengthened. Their only chance was to get to the shaft's emergency ladder before they were whipped through the door and out the lobby window. Rachel had picked up enough being married to a tsunami scientist to know that being caught in open water during a tsunami was deadly.

If she had let go of Jerry, she could have made it to the ladder easily. But she wouldn't release her grip. There was no way he could make it on his own.

The light wasn't bright, but it was enough to see that there was only a few feet separating them from the open elevator door. With a final kick, Rachel lashed out at the ladder with one hand and latched on to it. Jerry's shirt became taut with the strain, but he made one final kick as well and grabbed on to a rung just as the water surface broke through the elevator door.

They steadied themselves on the ladder as the water rushed out with the sound of Niagara Falls.

"Are you OK?" Sheila yelled.

"We're alive!" That was as good as it could get at that point.

After another few seconds, the water reached an equilibrium with the open door, and the extra water on that floor rushed back through. Rachel could now read the floor number on the outside of the door.

"We're at the eleventh floor."

"Can you climb back up?"

"Jerry's going to be lucky to be able to climb out right here. You'll have to come down and help me. Hold on, Jerry."

Jerry nodded hazily. He was in no condition to do much more than wait there.

It took a few minutes for the others to climb back out to the 16th floor and make it down to them.

Jerry stumbled down the ladder, guided by Rachel. Hands snaked from just outside the door to grab on to him and pull him inside, where he collapsed on the floor of the elevator lobby.

Rachel crawled out, exhausted, and sat on the floor to catch her breath.

She looked at Paige, who was comforting her children.

"Paige," Rachel said between gasps, "I'm so sorry about Bill."

"You should be."

"What?"

"It's your fault!" Paige said, spitting her words at Rachel. "If it wasn't for you, I never would have let us try to cross that rickety bridge. If we had stayed on the other side, he'd be alive right now."

"Paige, I…"

A massive cracking sound came from the direction of the floor-to-ceiling elevator lobby window that faced the Akamai tower. It started as a few punctuated snaps and pops, but quickly merged into a grinding cacophony of agitated metal and concrete that masked the sound of the rushing water.

Except for Jerry, they all raced to the window to see what was happening. Dust began to puff out all over the building, as if its seams were popping. The scene was instantly recognizable to anyone who had seen the events of 9/11 unfold on TV.

Rachel turned to the others and yelled, "Get back!"

They dragged Jerry to the end of the lobby as they saw the Akamai tower, weakened by the impact of the Western Sea barge, collapse into a pile of rubble. With horror, they watched a building that just an hour before had seemed so solid-virtually indestructible, built to withstand hurricane force winds, a state-of-the-art 21st century edifice to modern engineering-crumble in front of their eyes. And the worst part was that it was a mirror image of the building they were standing in.